Big cats, big mystery

Residents, experts still debating whether cougars roam here

Stanley Rehder, an amateur naturalist, displays a set of plaster casts he made on Eagles Island in 2004 from prints he believes belonged to a cougar. Experts say, however, that the cougar is extinct in this area.

Published: Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 12:47 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 7:19 a.m.

Big cats once roamed through the forests and swamps of Southeastern North Carolina, but zoologists and state officials say the Eastern cougar has been extinct here since, at least, the days of Teddy Roosevelt.

Facts

The Eastern Cougar

Scientific name: Puma concolor couguar. The Florida panther, generally considered a subspecies, is known as Puma concolor coryi.Size: Up to 7.5 feet long and 115-150 pounds. North American cougars are the fourth-largest cat on earth. Males are generally larger than females. Cubs weigh 4-8 ounces at birth.Diet: Primarily deer. Nursing females and young adults will prey on rabbits, ducks, turkeys, squirrels and anything else they can catch.Range: For females, 25-50 square kilometers. Males' ranges are generally larger, overlapping the territory of several females.Color: Gray to tawny. Cubs have spots until 6 months old; adults are generally monotone. (The "concolor" in the Latin name means "of one color.") Reports of "black panthers" in North America are controversial and not widely accepted by scientists.Habitat: Remote areas with dense vegetationLifespan: 10-12 years in the wild, up to 20 years in captivity

Stanley Rehder doesn't think so.

Rehder, a retired real estate executive, has plaster casts of paw prints that look like they were left by Puma concolor couguar, the Latin name for the native cougar.

The 85-year-old amateur naturalist says he made the casts a few years ago on the south end of Eagles Island on the edge of the Brunswick River - within walking distance of the Battleship North Carolina Memorial.

That's not all. A local woman told Rehder she saw a big cat crossing River Road while she was driving toward town in 1995.

Security guards for the Military Ocean Terminal at Sunny Point, near Southport, claim cougars have wandered into sight while they were on patrol at night.

Recent attacks

Rumors of the big cats' survival were revived before Christmas when an unidentified animal attacked a family's pit bull in the Midway Road neighborhood of Brunswick County. The Dec. 11 attack followed a mid-September incident when three dogs in the vicinity of Midway, Brown and Gordon roads were reportedly killed by an unknown predator.

The attacks started locals talking about a Beast of Bolivia - an echo of the legendary Vampire Beast of Bladenboro, a "catlike" creature that killed at least three dogs and sucked their blood in the winter of 1953-1954. At least 1,000 hunters roamed the woods of Bladen County before a bobcat was caught in a steel trap and shot on Jan. 13, 1954.

Period accounts of the "Beast of Bladenboro" claimed it was brown or tabby in color and weighed as much as 150 pounds, a description that sounds a lot like an Eastern cougar. In south Florida - the only location east of the Mississippi with a confirmed cougar population - adult males can reach 140 pounds.

Speculation about the identity of the "Beast of Bolivia" included a cougar, a bear or a wolf. Some people who saw photos of 3-inch paw prints left near the attack scene said the creature was most likely another dog, gone wild.

Officials skeptical

Officials are skeptical of cougar sightings, since nobody has produced a hide, hair or scat that could conclusively identify it.

"Most all the experts consider it extirpated," said Harry LeGrand, a vertebrate zoologist with the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

At the same time, "we get calls and e-mails all the time" about cougars, said Laura J. Gatens, curator of mammals with the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. "We have yet to see any credible evidence."

Brunswick and Onslow counties in the southeast were once part of the cougar's range, along with a wide stretch of North Carolina's Appalachian mountains, according to state records.

At this point, though, any cougars in North Carolina are likely escaped pets or zoo animals, LeGrand said. The last confirmed report, he added, was a "road kill" more than 20 years ago in rural Tyrrell County, in the northeast corner of the state. That cougar was found wearing a collar.

Some still believe

Others, however, are convinced the cougar has been making a stealthy comeback.

"I used to hunt, and I kept hearing stories about them," said Rehder, who's better known for his spirited defense of the wild Venus' flytrap. "I kept looking for them wherever I went."

In the 1990s, Rehder set out automatic cameras with motion sensors in heavily wooded areas where a cougar might prowl, "but I never got a picture," he said. "I got deer, bear, possums, raccoons but no cougars."

He did, however, find those paw prints.

Another local believer was Charles R. "Buster" Humphreys, a retired industrial chemist. Before his death in 2002, Humphreys collected reports of more than 200 alleged cougar sightings within a 40-mile radius of Wilmington, including accounts from such eyewitnesses as Sunny Point employees, retired District Court Judge Gilbert Burnett and Wilmington lawyer Helen Hinn.

Humphreys self-published a book, Panthers of the Coastal Plain, arguing for the big cats' survival in this region, and organized a 1993 seminar on the subject at the Cape Fear Museum, attended by staff members from the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.

Finding scientific proof has been hard, though. "The probability of seeing a panther is exceedingly low," Humphreys wrote. Even in the West, the big cats take care to avoid human settlements.

Also, cougars require a lot of room. In the West, cougars roam across 25 to 150 square miles to find enough prey to survive.

"The territory a cougar needs to live is just vast," Gatens said. "In North Carolina, there isn't the unbroken stretch of habitat."

Long history

The big cats, known colloquially as cougars, pumas, mountain lions or catamounts, once ranged from British Columbia to Argentina. Hunting, trapping and a collapse in the population of deer, the cats' main prey, all but wiped out the species east of the Mississippi River by the early 20th century.

Big cats were spotted near Wilmington, however, even after the Civil War. In 1884, the Wilmington Morning Star reported that "an immense wild cat, or catamount," 57 inches long, was killed by members of the Wilmington Fox Hunt Club near Wrightsville Beach. That same year, S.L. Davis shot a cat described as 4 feet, 9 inches long in Pender County, about 8 miles from Wilmington.

In 1909, 13-year-old Ezekiel Watkins shot and killed a "grave-yard wildcat" in Rocky Point. As proof, his proud grandfather forwarded its "big" left hind foot to the Morning Star's office. The newspaper's account, however, neglected to give the animal's size or weight, making it hard to tell whether the "wildcat" was a bobcat or something else.

The last major survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, conducted by zoologist Robert L. Downing of Clemson University between 1978 and 1983, found no trace of cougars in the Carolinas. Downing, however, told author Kevin Hansen, "It is sure hard to believe everyone who saw one was wrong."

"People have a love-hate relationship with this animal," Gatens said. "They just want them to be here."

A. The only known cougar population in the Eastern United States is in the Everglades of south Florida. Once down to just 40 cats, the population has rebounded to more than 100; 43 cubs were born in 2007, according to Florida wildlife officers. None are known to live north of Orlando.

The Eastern Cougar Network, a non-profit association that includes biologists and veterinarians, reports that cougar sightings have proliferated in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Oklahoma and the Dakotas, where the cats had not been seen for more than a century. DNA tests, however, traced a young cougar recently found dead in Kentucky back to South America, meaning it was probably an escaped or released pet. Details: www.easterncougar.org.

Q. Are they dangerous?

A. Potentially, yes. In the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain states, cougar attacks are increasing, as more humans invade the cats' territory. Between 1991 and 2003, an average of 5.6 attacks were reported each year in the United States and Canada; fatalities averaged less than one a year. Experts emphasize that, statistically, people are far more likely to be killed by domestic dogs than by cougars.

Victims of fatal attacks are almost always children, although a cougar apparently killed an adult cyclist in an Orange County, Calif., park in 2004. The best precaution, according to zoologists, is to walk with a group while in wilderness areas.

East of the Rockies, the chance of being attacked by a cougar is virtually nil. An Ontario man was reportedly bitten by a cougar in 2001 while trying to shoo the animal from his goat pen. The last known killing east of the Mississippi came in 1751, when a big cat fatally mauled a settler in Pennsylvania.

<p>Big cats once roamed through the forests and swamps of Southeastern North Carolina, but zoologists and state officials say the Eastern cougar has been extinct here since, at least, the days of Teddy Roosevelt.</p><p>Stanley Rehder doesn't think so.</p><p>Rehder, a retired real estate executive, has plaster casts of paw prints that look like they were left by Puma concolor couguar, the Latin name for the native cougar.</p><p>The 85-year-old amateur naturalist says he made the casts a few years ago on the south end of Eagles Island on the edge of the Brunswick River - within walking distance of the <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic33"><b>Battleship North Carolina</b></a> Memorial.</p><p>That's not all. A local woman told Rehder she saw a big cat crossing River Road while she was driving toward town in 1995.</p><p>Security guards for the Military Ocean Terminal at Sunny Point, near Southport, claim cougars have wandered into sight while they were on patrol at night.</p><p><B>Recent attacks</B></p><p>Rumors of the big cats' survival were revived before <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/holidays02"><b>Christmas</b></a> when an unidentified animal attacked a family's pit bull in the Midway Road neighborhood of Brunswick County. The Dec. 11 attack followed a mid-September incident when three dogs in the vicinity of Midway, Brown and Gordon roads were reportedly killed by an unknown predator.</p><p>The attacks started locals talking about a Beast of Bolivia - an echo of the legendary<a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20061029/NEWS/61027007"> Vampire Beast of Bladenboro,</a> a "catlike" creature that killed at least three dogs and sucked their blood in the winter of 1953-1954. At least 1,000 hunters roamed the woods of Bladen County before a bobcat was caught in a steel trap and shot on Jan. 13, 1954.</p><p>Period accounts of the "Beast of Bladenboro" claimed it was brown or tabby in color and weighed as much as 150 pounds, a description that sounds a lot like an Eastern cougar. In south Florida - the only location east of the Mississippi with a confirmed cougar population - adult males can reach 140 pounds.</p><p>Speculation about the identity of the "Beast of Bolivia" included a cougar, a bear or a wolf. Some people who saw photos of 3-inch paw prints left near the attack scene said the creature was most likely another dog, gone wild.</p><p><B>Officials skeptical</B></p><p>Officials are skeptical of cougar sightings, since nobody has produced a hide, hair or scat that could conclusively identify it.</p><p>"Most all the experts consider it extirpated," said Harry LeGrand, a vertebrate zoologist with the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources.</p><p>At the same time, "we get calls and e-mails all the time" about cougars, said Laura J. Gatens, curator of mammals with the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. "We have yet to see any credible evidence."</p><p>Brunswick and Onslow counties in the southeast were once part of the cougar's range, along with a wide stretch of North Carolina's Appalachian mountains, according to state records.</p><p>At this point, though, any cougars in North Carolina are likely escaped pets or zoo animals, LeGrand said. The last confirmed report, he added, was a "road kill" more than 20 years ago in rural Tyrrell County, in the northeast corner of the state. That cougar was found wearing a collar.</p><p><B>Some still believe</B></p><p>Others, however, are convinced the cougar has been making a stealthy comeback.</p><p>"I used to hunt, and I kept hearing stories about them," said Rehder, who's better known for his spirited defense of the wild Venus' flytrap. "I kept looking for them wherever I went."</p><p>In the 1990s, Rehder set out automatic cameras with motion sensors in heavily wooded areas where a cougar might prowl, "but I never got a picture," he said. "I got deer, bear, possums, raccoons but no cougars."</p><p>He did, however, find those paw prints.</p><p>Another local believer was Charles R. "Buster" Humphreys, a retired industrial chemist. Before his death in 2002, Humphreys collected reports of more than 200 alleged cougar sightings within a 40-mile radius of Wilmington, including accounts from such eyewitnesses as Sunny Point employees, retired District Court Judge Gilbert Burnett and Wilmington lawyer Helen Hinn.</p><p>Humphreys self-published a book, <i>Panthers of the Coastal Plain</i>, arguing for the big cats' survival in this region, and organized a 1993 seminar on the subject at the <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/TOPIC9959"><b>Cape Fear Museum</b></a>, attended by staff members from the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.</p><p>Finding scientific proof has been hard, though. "The probability of seeing a panther is exceedingly low," Humphreys wrote. Even in the West, the big cats take care to avoid human settlements.</p><p>Also, cougars require a lot of room. In the West, cougars roam across 25 to 150 square miles to find enough prey to survive.</p><p>"The territory a cougar needs to live is just vast," Gatens said. "In North Carolina, there isn't the unbroken stretch of habitat."</p><p><B>Long history</B></p><p>The big cats, known colloquially as cougars, pumas, mountain lions or catamounts, once ranged from British Columbia to Argentina. Hunting, trapping and a collapse in the population of deer, the cats' main prey, all but wiped out the species east of the Mississippi River by the early 20th century.</p><p>Big cats were spotted near Wilmington, however, even after the <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/TOPIC9951"><b>Civil War</b></a>. In 1884, the <i>Wilmington Morning Star </i>reported that "an immense wild cat, or catamount," 57 inches long, was killed by members of the Wilmington Fox Hunt Club near Wrightsville Beach. That same year, S.L. Davis shot a cat described as 4 feet, 9 inches long in Pender County, about 8 miles from Wilmington.</p><p>In 1909, 13-year-old Ezekiel Watkins shot and killed a "grave-yard wildcat" in Rocky Point. As proof, his proud grandfather forwarded its "big" left hind foot to the <i>Morning Star</i>'s office. The newspaper's account, however, neglected to give the animal's size or weight, making it hard to tell whether the "wildcat" was a bobcat or something else.</p><p>The last major survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, conducted by zoologist Robert L. Downing of Clemson University between 1978 and 1983, found no trace of cougars in the Carolinas. Downing, however, told author Kevin Hansen, "It is sure hard to believe everyone who saw one was wrong."</p><p>"People have a love-hate relationship with this animal," Gatens said. "They just <i>want</i> them to be here."</p><p><a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic14"><b>Ben Steelman</b></a>: 343-2208</p><p>ben.steelman@starnewsonline.com.</p><p><B>Q.</B> Where do Eastern cougars live?</p><p><B>A.</B> The only known cougar population in the Eastern United States is in the Everglades of south Florida. Once down to just 40 cats, the population has rebounded to more than 100; 43 cubs were born in 2007, according to Florida wildlife officers. None are known to live north of Orlando.</p><p>The Eastern Cougar Network, a non-profit association that includes biologists and veterinarians, reports that cougar sightings have proliferated in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Oklahoma and the Dakotas, where the cats had not been seen for more than a century. DNA tests, however, traced a young cougar recently found dead in Kentucky back to South America, meaning it was probably an escaped or released pet. Details: <a href="http://www.easterncougar.org" target="_blank">www.easterncougar.org</a>.</p><p><B>Q.</B> Are they dangerous?</p><p><B>A.</B> Potentially, yes. In the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain states, cougar attacks are increasing, as more humans invade the cats' territory. Between 1991 and 2003, an average of 5.6 attacks were reported each year in the United States and Canada; fatalities averaged less than one a year. Experts emphasize that, statistically, people are far more likely to be killed by domestic dogs than by cougars.</p><p>Victims of fatal attacks are almost always children, although a cougar apparently killed an adult cyclist in an Orange County, Calif., park in 2004. The best precaution, according to zoologists, is to walk with a group while in wilderness areas.</p><p>East of the Rockies, the chance of being attacked by a cougar is virtually nil. An Ontario man was reportedly bitten by a cougar in 2001 while trying to shoo the animal from his goat pen. The last known killing east of the Mississippi came in 1751, when a big cat fatally mauled a settler in Pennsylvania.</p><p>- Ben Steelman</p>